The Exaltation Of The Cross – Sermon
For God So Loved The World That He Gave His Only Son On A Cross For Us All
Most Reverend Patrick C. Pinder, S.T.D.
Archbishop of Nassau
[simpleazon-image align=”left” asin=”1928832520″ locale=”us” height=”375″ src=”http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Xg6Mf6CpL.jpg” width=”250″]This is the Year of Matthew as far as our Sunday Gospel goes. However, this Sunday the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, we have the Gospel of John.
This Gospel passage from the Third Chapter of John contains what is perhaps the most often quoted verse from the Gospels. That is John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” (John 3:16) This passage falls within that section of John’s Gospel known as the Book of Signs (John 1:19-12:50) where the seven miracles contained in this Gospel are found.
The third chapter of John’s Gospel begins with an exchange between Jesus and Nicodemus. Nicodemus is described as a Pharisee and a member of the ruling class in Judea. He visits Jesus at night. When Jesus tells him he must be born again, Nicodemus does not understand. Unlike the typical Pharisee, Nicodemus is very open to the teaching of Jesus. He defends Jesus against other Pharisees who sought to arrest him. Nicodemus insisted that the law does not condemn a person without a hearing. (John 7:50 – 51)
Nicodemus along with Joseph of Arimathea prepares the body of Jesus for burial (John 19:38-43). There is a tradition which holds that Nicodemus eventually became a follower of Christ.
In the course of his conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus makes a direct reference to an event recorded in the 19th Chapter of the Book of Numbers. It tells of how while on the Exodus journey the people complained about God and Moses. God punished them by afflicting them with seraph serpents. The serpents bit and killed many of the people. But God relented in this punishment. Moses was instructed to mount a bronze serpent on a pole. Anyone bitten by a serpent who looked at the raised bronze serpent was healed.
Not only does Jesus refer back to the Exodus he later refers to his future death and resurrection: “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” (John 3:14-15) The cross is a sign of hope. But it is hope that passes through the trial of suffering.
During the Celebration of the Eucharist the priest raises the consecrated host and says: “Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb.” One can be forgiven for making a symbolic association between this liturgical action, Christ raised on the cross and the bronze serpent raised in the desert.
Once again, the cross is a sign of hope, the hope that endures the trial of suffering. No one of us will be a stranger to suffering in this life. The cross reminds us that regarding suffering, whatever form it may take in our lives, the Lord who brings us to it, will surely see us through it.
Mass Readings
Reading 1 – Numbers 21:4B-9
With their patience worn out by the journey,
the people complained against God and Moses,
“Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert,
where there is no food or water?
We are disgusted with this wretched food!”
In punishment the LORD sent among the people saraph serpents,
which bit the people so that many of them died.
Then the people came to Moses and said,
“We have sinned in complaining against the LORD and you.
Pray the LORD to take the serpents from us.”
So Moses prayed for the people, and the LORD said to Moses,
“Make a saraph and mount it on a pole,
and if any who have been bitten look at it, they will live.”
Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole,
and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent
looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.
Responsorial Psalm PS 78:1BC-2, 34-35, 36-37, 38
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
Hearken, my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth in a parable,
I will utter mysteries from of old.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
While he slew them they sought him
and inquired after God again,
Remembering that God was their rock
and the Most High God, their redeemer.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
But they flattered him with their mouths
and lied to him with their tongues,
Though their hearts were not steadfast toward him,
nor were they faithful to his covenant.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
But he, being merciful, forgave their sin
and destroyed them not;
Often he turned back his anger
and let none of his wrath be roused.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
Reading 2 Philippians 2:6-11
Brothers and sisters:
Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness;
and found human in appearance,
he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to death,
even death on a cross.
Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name
that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Gospel John 3:13-17
Jesus said to Nicodemus:
“No one has gone up to heaven
except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man.
And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him.
